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Back on the road again – Wick man Aaron talks about how he's back in business with his bus company after Covid nightmare


By David G Scott

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The boss of a bus company based in Wick talked candidly about how his business almost went bust due to Covid but has now bounced back to full operation again.

Aaron Wilson has a new depot at Roxburgh Road in the town and his fleet of sparking clean buses were ready for action during a recent visit – a far cry from the situation in 2020 when he lost all his coaches to a finance company.

Aaron Wilson at his new depot in Wick near the Pulteney Distillery. Picture: DGS
Aaron Wilson at his new depot in Wick near the Pulteney Distillery. Picture: DGS

Speaking to the Groat Aaron said: "During lockdown we were having payment breaks on buses, paying them back [finance companies], and they took everything of us and left us with one vehicle." He said the business became unsustainable due to Covid and he was left with just a single minibus. "We bounced back in March this year and now we're sitting with a fleet of 15 buses again."

The 28-year-old entrepreneur kept busy during lockdown by starting his own groundworks company but has now given that up to go back to the job he is truly passionate about, running buses. "I saved and saved hard while doing the groundworks. I was so busy that I subcontracted the work out and we were taking a lot of money in." That money was put to good use for Aaron's purchase of a new fleet of buses.

Aaron with one of his new fleet.
Aaron with one of his new fleet.
Aaron's buses will once again be a familiar sight on Highland roads after he resurrected the business earlier this year.
Aaron's buses will once again be a familiar sight on Highland roads after he resurrected the business earlier this year.

"My dad [Richard Wilson] believes in me even though the odds were against me at the time. Determination and hard work is what it's all about and I just carried on."

Asked what it is about buses that gets him so enthused, Aaron said "I just really love the job" and talked about how fulfilling it is to meet people from all around the world when operating coaches linked with cruise ships. "We work along with Invergordon Bus Tours and we're their main supplier for coaches – there's a massive, massive demand."

The special coaches take tourists around the highlights of the Highlands. Aaron said he also runs a party bus along with private hires and five minibuses for school work and football runs but the cruise ship work is his main source of income at the moment.

Aaron is delighted to have bounced back after the Covid period. Picture: DGS
Aaron is delighted to have bounced back after the Covid period. Picture: DGS

"We did a service run from Wick to Inverness and it was really busy but then Covid came along and ruined it – it ruined a lot of things."

At his new depot near the Pulteney Distillery, Aaron talked about his passion for buses and said that when he's not driving them he's underneath them to fix any problems. He now employs 12 staff that includes coach drivers, office staff, minibus drivers and cleaners.

"We're always doing private hire work, especially at weekends when we do local football, netball and rugby teams. The railway is another big contract and we do replacements when the trains don't run." A recent example of the latter work happened earlier this month with a derailment near Forsinard and Aaron's buses ferried passengers while the issue was being fixed.

Aaron said that when he's not driving buses he's fixing them. Picture: DGS
Aaron said that when he's not driving buses he's fixing them. Picture: DGS

"I'm absolutely delighted that we bounced back this summer and we've had a lot of help to get where we are now. I'm not going to lie to you, I had a lot of sleepless night with people telling me a rake of times that I'll never pull it off. It affects your mental health but here we are now and I'm delighted with it all."

Aaron said he's been self-employed since the age of 16 and worked on fishing boats, ice cream vans and doing window cleaning but as soon as he started with the buses he knew it was for him. "Since January we've added 10 vehicles to our fleet with all the demand. I really have to thank the people of Caithness for keeping us busy."


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